Pictures are obviously important tools to help sell your products on eBay. But what's the best way to get the photos, and how many do you need? These and other photo questions are answered in this sample chapter.

This chapter is from the book

Pictures at a Glance

Just about any auction can use at least one picture. On the most obvious level, pictures enable potential buyers to see what
you’re selling. That may not be important if you’re selling something whose appearance doesn’t matter all that much—computer
cables, for example. But it’s critical for collectibles, clothes, artwork, furniture, and so much more. Your listing description
may say, “Very cute poodle ashtray,” but a photo will say it even better.

Pictures can also show flaws, wear and tear, and other traits that affect an item’s value. The phrase “a few minor scratches”
means one thing to Oscar Madison and quite another to Felix Unger. But a close-up photo of those scratches will tell the Odd
Couple everything they need to know.

Finally, pictures have an important psychological benefit: they provide a measure of reassurance to potential bidders that
your item really does exist. That reassurance can be important on eBay, where bidders are almost always buying from strangers.

Adding pictures to your listing is a fairly straightforward process. But getting the pictures is another matter. Should you take a digital photo? Or should you use a scanner? How many pictures should your
listing have? And what should you do to show your item at its best?

We’ll answer these questions and many more in this chapter. Let’s start by looking at the big, well, picture.

Some eBay sellers don’t take pictures—they steal them. It’s common to see professional product photography on listing pages
for camera equipment, computers, electronic gear, music CDs, software, and more. Sellers find these photos on Web sites, save
them on their hard drives, and upload them to their listing pages.

On one hand, it’s easy to understand why folks pilfer images. If you’re selling a Nikon 5700 digital camera, why not just
grab that beautiful photo of it from the Nikon Web site? After all, it was taken by a professional photographer with great
equipment and a photo studio—it’s got to look better than the one you’d take on your dining room table.

That may be true, but there are a few reasons why you shouldn’t use those images. For starters, it’s illegal. Those photos
are protected by copyright law, and although Nikon is unlikely to slap a lawsuit on you, the fact is that you’re using its
imagery without its permission.

But more to the point, a stock product shot doesn’t show your item. When you use someone else’s photo, you lose some of the critical advantages that pictures provide in the first place:
they show your item’s condition, and they reassure potential bidders that it really exists. A pilfered product shot does neither of these
things.

A related issue deals with other eBay auctions. We’ve seen many instances of photos being lifted from another auction. This,
too, is not kosher.

When we see an auction containing photos that have obviously been lifted from someone else’s site—or someone else’s auction—we
think twice about bidding. So take your own photos, not someone else’s. And if you notice your photos appearing in other sellers’
auctions, see page 73 for advice.

Note: There is one possible exception to this rule. In many eBay categories, including music CDs, video games, books, and movies,
you have the option to use stock photography when creating your listing page (see page 39). You won’t be violating any copyright laws when you use these stock images. For all the reasons we just outlined, however,
we still recommend taking your own pictures, unless your item is brand new in its original packaging.